


Cantera: A Foundation Story-Part 9

by Zurrunba



Series: Cantera [9]
Category: Foundation - Isaac Asimov
Genre: Alternate Universe - SCP Foundation, Cantera, Fillian Empire, Galactic Empire, Gen, M/M, Science Fiction, galaxy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-04
Updated: 2020-08-04
Packaged: 2021-03-05 22:53:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,051
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25713103
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Zurrunba/pseuds/Zurrunba
Summary: The Galactic Empire has fallen, with kings, tyrants, and other rulers scrambling to seize power in systems across the galaxy. One such ruler is the Tyrant of Fillia, who thirty years before had crushed a rebellion from the planet Cantera, leaving desolation in its wake. Now the people of Cantera just wish to get on with their lives, but then from somewhere the tyrant gets wind that perhaps things weren't as calm and docile on that planet as the King of Cantera portrayed.As civil war still rages on the Fillian home world, the many planets within its empire sit and watch for what the outcome will be. King Hiero of the planet Cantera has no such luxury. Being plagued by civil discord of his own, he and Queen Moira have set out to determine where many of the imperial factions have been building up their support. In order to survive they had to weave through the complicated webs both in and out of the Fillian realm. To add to the trouble, word crosses to those watching events on the empire's border. A distress call comes from the fleet on the border with the Yllulian Empire; they are under attack.
Series: Cantera [9]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1605262
Kudos: 1





	Cantera: A Foundation Story-Part 9

Tempus, the Foundation representative who unofficially acted as ambassador to the planet Cantera, sat in an unremarkable room in the back of a pub in the capital city. He’d originally planned to depart back to Foundation space a couple days before. Things were getting dangerous here lately, even for him. He’d been chosen for this job because of his ability to weed his way through the sewers of interstellar politics and back channels. The latest attempt on the king’s life, followed by a few murders too close to home, convinced him that maybe it was best he watch future events from afar.

But Queen Moira’s activities had stopped him. His interactions with the queen had been minimal, for a whole slew of reasons. The Foundation was aware of the interesting activities of the trading family she was a part of. But that wasn’t the only reason she was of interest to him and the Foundation. She had direct interactions with several people on Terminus when it suited her, and a lot of that activity was confusing to those outside of her personal circle. For the time being he would remain on Cantera and watch for any new developments. He wouldn’t be surprised if the queen might try to reach out to him soon. There were several things that they might discuss that could be mutually beneficial.  
_________________________________

Hiero stared at a computer screen where he sat in his personal office. Things were still moving in chaotic circles around the planet Fillia. What was really disturbing was the appearance of three unknown vessels in orbit around the planet. They were of uncertain origin (meaning they weren’t marked with the imperial logos) and looked to be in formation above the palace. There were no images available as of yet. That would come once some of the media present managed to get their heads away from the palace and focused on these unexpected visitors. That should take about a day or so; unless they attacked.

He contemplated whether or not these ships could be among those his nephew’s wife Tonya had stolen when fleeing his authorities. It was doubtful. Those ships were clearly marked with the Fillian logo when they’d disappeared, including the Cantera symbol on the bottom. Most news outlets on the planet would love to be able to point to that symbol announcing Cantera’s attempt to take over the empire. King Hiero had no desire to take over that cesspool of an empire that made up the Fillian side of it. He just wanted his planet and their allies to have their independence again. Current events might make that impossible for much longer than he’d hoped. 

There were still too many unknowns. His next act could be the catalyst that would set him on a course of no return. If this civil war on Fillia continued for much longer, and the imperial fleets began moving to take sides, then there would likely be only one choice he could make. None of the possible choices he could see were good ones. All of his plans had involved dealing with Tyrant Yth, a singular focus to drive wedges into and force to bend in his direction. With him dead nothing else could be certain.

He continued reading reports and checking broadcasts for the next hour, seeing if something could answer his questions. One factor that he couldn’t deduce from his current searching was the activities of his nephew’s wife Tonya, who’d arranged her own rebellion against the king and possibly Fillia itself. From what Moira had discovered so far, she was working with contacts within the Yllul realm. 

Sitting back, he rubbed his eyes. He hadn’t slept for the past two days, and it didn’t look like he would for another few with the way things were. He considered getting up to eat something and talk to a few people before coming back with fresh eyes. At times it worked, but he feared that something else would pop up and pry him away from his search. A typical ruler would assign this task to a subordinate while checking on other things. The data on the screen was starting to all just blur together. Then something odd caught his eye.

He read over the reports again. One source from the planet Floria, one of those that stood on the border between the Fillian and Yllulian Empires, was broadcasting distress signals. Glances at other planets near that border started showing the same thing. Unknown vessels were appearing in the systems. 

Thinking things over, he checked on the Fillian Border Fleet’s activities. Communication between the fleet and Fillia itself had gone quiet after several urgent message had been relayed the day before. Of course, the king couldn’t access them because they were coded and on a spectrum that could only be reached by knowing the specific frequency. One of about three million possible frequencies that were worked within those systems.

Not good. Definitely not good. This may be the point that pushes him into action. It was horrible to consider, but there it was. One more bit of evidence in this direction and there’d be no going back. Clicking three more links he came to what he needed. Sighing, he reached for the communicator.

“Get me Captain Tya,” he called through his intercom. “If she’s not on the planet then find out where she is.” Another thought and he added, “And if Tya isn’t reachable get me a direct link to General Shore on Orbital Base 1.”

A direct message to the general was risky, possibly to be intercepted by prying eyes. But they had to act now if they didn’t want to be blind sighted in the future.  
__________________________________

General Shore sat across the table from the former Sergeant Uys. One of the tyrant’s spies who’d been working to undermine the king of Cantera’s power at home. He’d been caught in a botched assassination attempt on Shore on Station One, the orbital base he commanded. For three weeks he’d been kept in solitary confinement while it was decided what to do with him.

The sergeant wasn’t difficult to read. His expression was a combination of resignation and determination. Despite everything the boy was loyal to the cause, even if he really didn’t know exactly what the cause was. Duty to the imperial authority; justice is doing what’s right? There was no indication that he was being paid off to betray the king. The cause of the tyrant might encourage him to stay silent, but what if he knew what had happened to Yth, the tyrant he’d once served? 

“Do you know what’s been happening here the last couple weeks?” the general asked. “There’s been quite a few interesting things, you know.”

Uys remained silent. So far, he hadn’t taken the bait.

Shore laid out a data pad on the table where the sergeant had his hands chained before him. The prisoner had just enough movement allowed in his hand for him to touch the pad. The general then typed in a few words and allowed Uys to watch the news reels concerning the Fillian home world since he’d been captured. At first the boy was trying to show no sign of interest in the news broadcasts that played before him. Then something in one of them caused him to glance down, and then his eyes never left the screen for the next hour. 

“What do you know about this Firon?” Shore asked.

“A fool,” the boy said, his eyes never leaving the screen. “That idiot thinks he could run the empire?”

Shore smiled. Uys couldn’t take his eye off the pad as he kept click story after story. Occasionally he would flick to something else and check settings, perhaps confirming that what he was given wasn’t manufactured. There was a lot to see. The news from Fillia itself was mostly republican leaning, as they seemed to have control of the planet communications. Now and then something else came out, largely from other planets in nearby systems. When he got to the part about the Yllul fleet his face went pale.

Feeling that he likely had the boy where he wanted him Shore said, “Tell me, sergeant, what do you know about these republicans and this rebel group of tyrants?”  
______________________________________

“You’re sure of this?” the king asked.

“Absolutely,” General Shore said. “I verified most of what he said and the rest connects with other evidence. The general who wants to be placed as tyrant in place of Yth, or now Firon, is named Greelin. Uys wasn’t sure which general was running the rebel tyrant faction until he saw the movements done by certain underlings of all potential options. Two other generals are working with him, one of which managed to get off the planet and to Rhyon before Firon had managed to close that corridor.”

Sitting at his desk in one of his more secure offices the king anxiously went over data the general sent him through the side screen. It was amazing how much the former sergeant had known about these factions on the planet. If he was loyal to the tyrant why hadn’t he passed this on through the channels back to his master? He admitted the answer to that was complicated. Side channels weren’t always reliable, and Uys may not have been completely certain. If he were to report back to the tyrant’s people, the person who got his message might be one of those involved with one of the factions. His only real choices for action would be to do as he was ordered. That would work with his conscience for the cause. 

“What about this republican faction?” the king asked.

“The leader of that group is a minister over food and trade; one of three people who has such a task, but this one clearly supersedes the others. From the connections we have I can confirm he is the most likely leader. There are two generals he’s won over to the cause. Their identities he doesn’t know, but I’ve been able to narrow it down to five possibilities. Since Uys has been in our custody since before the revolt, he clearly can’t tell us anything else about those groups.”

“Thank you, general,” the king said. “Keep your eyes open for anything else you can find. I’m afraid my next course of action isn’t going to please too many people.”

A wry smile crossed the general’s face. “I rarely take pleasure in much of my work of late, Your Grace.” Before the king could reply the general added with a serious expression, “I hope that Counselor Grij isn’t going to be upset about you bypassing him to contact me. I know how sensitive he can get about that.”

“He’ll get over it; and he’ll have his hands full soon enough. As will Counselors Oris and Tical.”

The king sat back in his chair, contemplating whether to have the general do anything else, but decided against it. The orders the king had given him pretty much covered everything else he could say. He would know courses of actions to take under the circumstances without being told what to do. That was one of his best qualities as far as the king was concerned. The general was dismissed.

The problem now was Moira’s absence. She’d promised to meet him here twenty minutes before. Likely she was doing her own investigations concerning Tonya and activities from the planet Gondor. What he was hearing from Gondor wasn’t good. In all his intrigues and working behind the scenes wherever he could to build up Cantera’s interests, he hadn’t uncovered the strange activities on that chaotic trade world. Well, chaotic was a rather strong word. To be honest, the leaders on that planet had things the way they liked them, for the time being. They were among the best at what they did. And now one of their usual contacts had made some kind of agreement with Yllul and Tonya. Nothing good could come from that.

When he hit the button to talk with Moira, she didn’t respond. That wasn’t unheard of, but since their meeting was part of her schedule, he wondered what the problem could be. There’d already been a couple assassination attempts on her in the past two months.  
________________________________________

Moira remained in bed longer than she’d planned. The night before she found herself throwing up everything she had for dinner and was doing her best to keep this from the king. For the past couple days that had been easy. Hiero was so busy and hadn’t been in their bed with her the whole time. At first she thought it might’ve been something she ate, but a quick personal test of her own showed that she was pregnant. She’d pushed the importance of having an heir for the king to help counter the threat of Tonya’s pregnancy, but now that it came, she was thinking it was at the most inconvenient time. 

Slowly she sat up in the bed, making sure her stomach would allow further movement and dropped her feet to the floor. On instinct she headed to the computer to look through the cameras at the guards watching her and the king’s bedroom. After the attempted assassination they could never be too careful. Each of them were the same ones she was familiar with. All of them on alert. Occasionally, someone would be stopped who came a little too close, and then was let go.

There was an appointment that she had with Hiero in ten minutes, but she was in no condition to get ready and then run off to the office where someone important was supposed to be talked to. The king could handle it. He’d be happy to enlighten her later if anything important came out of it. She wanted to be more composed when talking to the king or anyone else. She decided to take the time to check on any messages from her contacts. 

Her trade contact that was sent to uncover Tonya’s whereabouts and activities had gotten back to her. She’d learned of Tonya’s presence on the planet Almior from another contact. As a result she’d arranged to have some squeeze placed on different locations to discover which location she’d chosen. Within the empire this planet was a strong trader’s hub for the black market. To those familiar with the trade routes it was said that Almior was second only to Gondor itself on illicit trade and intrigue. That also made it perfect to gather one’s assets in preparation for a big operation. The ships she’d gathered for her schemes couldn’t all be gathered around the planet, but there were plenty of places around the system to hide them until they were needed. Four of the spies she had sent to the planet in search of Tonya had disappeared, while the other four were moving into some promising directions. Those sent out by the smuggler-glass merchant Arron were another story. He’d found what they were looking for.

Finally, their quarry had been spotted, joining up with several defectors of the Canteran navy preparing to board a ship. From the image that was sent it was clearly one of those stolen from the king. Moira dug in to see all the information that was given, then followed up by using her trade contacts to uncover official flight plans and imperial procedures. A ship had been allowed to slip through some restricted areas as it took off from the planet surface. Its intended path wasn’t laid out with any plan. It took a lot of credits to convince those in power to overlook recording of imperial flight plans on these planets. Arron also sent her a code that allowed her to connect with several assets throughout the solar system that the empire held. This way she could tell that Tonya’s ship had stopped off at a few strange locations before heading out of the system. Just before the ship made it out of the system she caught sight of it with a sensor located on a large asteroid. It wasn’t alone. There were ten other ships with her. Most of them were of the newest ones built by the Canterans. 

Tonya had been flushed out. She was on the move with everything she had, if the information from both Cantera and Arron was correct. From where they left the system she had to be heading in the direction of Fillia. Was she planning on attacking Fillia itself? If that were the case the planet’s defenses would hammer them mercilessly. If she was trying to seize it she might manage to break the defenses with intense attacks from all her ships, but it would hold out long enough for imperial ships to arrive and finish off what was left. So, what was her plan if not to do a full-frontal assault? Maybe Yllul would attack after Tonya appeared in the system, or maybe there were more ships Tonya had than he knew of. Either way once those Canteran vessels appeared in the Fillia system with their clear marks of origin, everyone would assume that Cantera was planning some revolt with Yllulian help. 

Setting those things aside for now she turned back to the mission she’d sent Captain Zurx on with the scouting ships. The vast amount of information gleaned from the wrecked base at Rhea Alta was still being sorted through, but some basic things were clear. Things at Gondor were far different than expected. People the king had assumed were trustworthy there turned out to be anything but. Where their alliances lay put a stopper to several plans put underway years before. It was a great loss, the amount of resources that had gone into them. She’d have to be the one to work things out. There were other people around Gondor that she knew were for sale, and if she got to them first then those who’d betrayed Cantera would quickly find themselves wishing they hadn’t. Afterward, other contacts and connections would have to be made. If only time wasn’t so precious just then. 

On Gondor at least one person needed to be taken out immediately. If he hadn’t learned yet what happened in the Rhea Alta system, then there was a good chance she could take him out. The fool who’d tried to kill her three years before was dealt with as soon as she managed to get safely to Cantera and the palace. That one had come close to succeeding because Moira hadn’t been watching her back as well as she should. So many enemies, but so far, she’d managed to take each of them down. Even the assistant she’d trusted for so many years; when she’d made her attempt at betrayal it failed, even if it had come the closest to success. Some day when she was free to exercise her full faculties, she would chart out every opponent she had and arrange fitting punishments for each of them.

Rubbing her eyes, she took a deep breath and sat back from her seat. Strange how everything had led to where she was today. Her training in a major trading family had prepared her rather well to deal with a lot of what she was encountering within the king’s realm. But when she’d left her home world to studying in other areas there had been some imprints to her that encouraged her to steer away from this nasty business. A part of her wanted to get away from this chaos and go back to that kind of life, but there was always something that had to be fixed before it could ever be possible. Perhaps, somehow, working with her husband she could find a way to make it work. But there always appeared to be one more problem to deal with; one more dangerous person to neutralize. 

Glancing back at the screen she fought another bought of nausea. This time her focus helped to keep it from taking hold. (She no longer had anything in her stomach to heave up anyway). She skimmed through more materials from Rhea Alta. It was fascinating to see just how many people had been hiding so many schemes working with and against the tyrant Yth. If Yth hadn’t been killed by Tonya’s people, he certainly would still have his hands full. When Sergeant Uys’ name appeared on several communications she stopped to read them. Everything there was really as they suspected. This information would be filed away. Maybe it could be used for other plots that needed to be hatched in the future. The next group of documents dealt with some communications happening between some people on the base and Yllul.

That stopped her for a moment. Taking a deep breath, she fought to clear her mind and make sure everything was ready to focus before going back. Yllul showed up three times, and from what she saw it was clear that only one person on that base had been communicating with the neighboring empire. Exactly what that person’s position was on the base wasn’t clear. He or she kept being referred to as Rake. Moving these files around she checked other messages and files saved by someone using the same personal address.

And then something large and red showed up in the search. A kind of contingency plan for actions to be taken if the tyrant should be killed was laid out. She stared at the screen in shock. Certainly, that couldn’t be true. Of all the possible moves for them to take why this one, contingent on the tyrant Yth’s death?

The answer was clear to her, but she couldn’t believe they’d actually do it. With Fillia in chaos there wouldn’t be much to stand in their way. A fleet of eight Yllulian warships was headed straight for Gondor. And she’d sent four scout ships there, likely to their deaths. 

As swiftly as she could she got dressed in one of her more casual outfits that also passed for official royal attire for business and headed for the king’s hidden office where he was supposed to be. She’d taken a lot longer to go there than the king had allowed, but she doubted he’d moved. Once he got entrenched in his work in a single location it was almost impossible to pry him away from it without some kind of disaster happening.  
______________________________________________

The Gondor system came into view as the scouts sent out by the queen decided what course of action to take to complete their mission. Captain Zurx had originally planned on contacting several people he knew there to determine what the interstellar politics with Fillia and Yllul were. The information they’d gleaned from the derelict base in Rhea Alta system made it clear that there were a lot of things here they thought they could trust, but they really couldn’t. Now that they were in the system he needed to decide if contact was to be made with the others he’d planned on, or if he should wait for instructions from Hiero or Moira. 

The four ships stayed closer to one of the further planets of the system from Gondor itself. There was no point in getting too close until they were ready to make contact with someone. From where they were, they could make out the dozen or so vessels that were moving onto and off of the planet. Most of them were regular trading vessels, along with some ships bearing the emblems of many governments. There were a lot of ships going through here, and those were just the ones that they could see. Who knew how many others had gone through other routes that weren’t visible to their sensors? One could never keep an eye on all of them at once.

Zurx went through some of the communications and data from Rhea Alta to make sure of all the imperial connections that they could identify. Along with the four they’d originally planned on talking to there was at least one more that looked like had been compromised. In this instance the contact had gone completely silent for a couple months before starting up again. That would have likely been caught, and the ones using the code name weren’t who they claimed to be. Anyone could be on the other end of that one. That left two others that might be worth trying. Contacting one of them would be tricky, but due to the way they set up connections they could quickly determine if the contact was still in control of interstellar communications.

After signals were sent out to both of them, they moved their ships in closer to the planet. Their radio signal would’ve been picked up by many on the planet, though no one could decode it except for the system it was intended for. Their recipients also couldn’t be traced, so nobody would be tracking down the one any given message was meant for. After sending these out all they could do was sit and wait.

The waiting lasted for more than two hours. The captain considered what that could mean. This wasn’t the longest he’d ever had to wait for a message from a contact here, but given the urgent situation he was worried. The green and blue planet below continued to spin on its axis and move on its orbit. The people who manned the nearest base were likely wondering what they were doing sitting there in high orbit. If they could make out the model of the ships they wouldn’t be worried about any kind of potential attack. At least not from them. Scouts could easily be precursors to coming war vessels. At some point they would have to land in order to appease any wondering eyes. Luckily, they didn’t have to worry about that. Both made contact as it grew close to the third hour. 

“Sir,” the communications officer said, “I got a response, but I’m not sure what it means.”

Coming over to the console the captain read it. “It means that it’s best to meet him in person in order to talk about the items we want to discuss. Tell him to stand by. We’ll coordinate with the other ships when that best time will be. I’d prefer Captain Fel deal with them. He’s better at the kind of talk they’ll be having.”

Glancing at another screen he asked, “What about the other contact? What’s his response?”

The officer went through several screen. There was an image here and an image there mixed with a bunch of numbers. Just when one set of numbers was done another came along. This went on for five minutes before it stopped. Working hard and fast the officer finally finished with his calculations. This time he was even more confused.

“This contact has more than one message he wants us to see, but there is some coding in each one that seems to have keys from the first into decoding the next. Altogether there are five such messages. I’ve never seen anything like this. Why would someone go through this much trouble in a simple response to a request?”

“Because it isn’t a simple response,” the captain answered. “Show me where the codes and the keys are connected.”

He knew that contact liked to use funny means to communicate in order to validate his identity. This kind of message was something new. Each deciphered into two sentences that were adding together of code words. At least those code words were things the king’s people had agreed upon with this one a long time ago. Otherwise it could take several more hours to figure out what he was talking about.  
When it was finished the captain felt his body go cold. 

“Get us out of the system!” the captain called. “Every ship out.”

“What is it sir?” the officer asked in confusion.

Pointing at the language at the end he said, “Our contact is going underground today because an Yllul fleet will be in the system in the next couple hours.”

He continued to stare at the coded message as his orders were being implemented. He’d actually misinformed them about the timing of the coming Yllulian fleet. It was coming today, but the message didn’t say when. One can hope that it wasn’t too late to leave the system. From where they were it would take a couple hours cruising before they could get to a place to safely hyper jump. The key would be to be moving in the system away from where the enemy would be coming in. The fighting here would be the result of two empires fighting to neutralize a potential place for the other to get an upper hand in this sector. There would be no distinction made between a Canteran vessel and that of any other planet of the Fillian Empire.

It took a half hour to get all their scout vessels ready and organized to jointly depart from the system. Quickly he chose a course that would avoid the gravitational pull of the other planets of the system, allowing their departure to be quicker. It was with some relief that they began moving away from Gondor. What he didn’t notice was the ship that had left the planet surface and began to discretely follow them. Nor the large warship that moved around the system before it started to open fire on the trading vessels heading for Gondor.  
_______________________________________

It was strange. One moment a massive armada of Yllulian ships was barreling down on the Fillian Border Fleet, then they retreated. The engagement was intense for about an hour, then the ships sprang back into various directions. Confusion. Clearly there was no sense of the invaders being defeated. Very few ships had even been damaged beyond a few scorch marks with everything flying around them as it was. It was almost like they were testing shield and fighting capabilities of the border fleet. To anyone with a clear head that should be ridiculous. The Fillian Border Fleet was made up of the same ships that it had been for the past fifty years. That had to be known to the leaders of Yllul.

Or was it? It was said that the Yllulians discouraged general interaction between themselves and other cultures that they found inferior. One of the hallmarks of theirs was with their ruling class and concepts of be a superior breed. They had been an expanding empire for the past several decades, and so far they hadn’t met an enemy they hadn’t been able to vanquish. Normally that would cause such rulers to plow straight ahead with their next conquest. But with some changing circumstances they could be finally finding out about their enemy. The current Yllul bordered had just been solidified fifteen years before. Now it was Fillia’s turn to feel the poke and further actions.

The admiral spoke with each of the ship captains. It took several hours before he was satisfied that nothing terrible had happened to any of the ships. Three of them managed to lose some sensors and gravitational stability, but it was all repaired in less than an hour. Through it all the sensors were all turned to the boarder. Here and there a ship would show up on the sensors, but then would vanish again. 

Things sat still then for another day. The admiral sent messages back to the planet Fillia and others nearby. They managed to make contact with some of the other ships that were in orbit around the bases. From the home world itself there was only one message, that they wanted the fleet to return and support the republican cause. That was disturbing to the admiral. He knew the republicans hadn’t gained control of the home world; at least not yet. The admiral needed to make contact with someone who could possibly support them militarily should there be an invasion.

Two other fleets were contacted. Both of them were waiting to see how things panned out on Fillia, just like many other players. One implied that they were concerned about a civil war breaking out on some of the planets at the far end of the empire. The other wouldn’t give a definitive response. They just said they would wait. Now all that could be done was to warn the nearby systems that an enemy attack was likely imminent, and they should be prepared. It took another day before a group of Fillian Empire ships appeared from the direction of the home world. There were twelve in all. This brought some relief to the fleet commanders. Finally, someone was coming to ease the strain.

When these new ships came into main sensor and communication range the admiral hailed them. There was no response. Confused, the admiral hailed them again. There was still no response. What could this mean? It never occurred to him that maybe this group of ships was a threat. It was when these ships were almost on top of them that he noted the mark of Cantera on seven of them. Having been around as a young officer during the Canteran revolt instinct finally kicked in, and he ordered the fleet to turn to receive these new ships, but it was too late.

All these ships opened fire on the fleet. Unlike what the Yllulians were doing, these ships meant to destroy. The border fleet moved as quickly as they could, but two of their ships had already been destroyed before they could return fire. Unleashing what they could, it was quickly made clear that the shields and weapons of these Canteran vessels were superior to those of the border fleet. They were much newer, having some kind of new weapons to bear. There would be a lot of the fleet’s ships destroyed, but the admiral hoped that he could still manage to take out the Canterans with his superior numbers.

It was at that time that the Yllulian vessels appeared. The border fleet had been surprised again. This time there was no hope of them possibly fighting both enemies. One more urgent distress call was sent out.  
____________________________________

This was a disaster. He feared that it would come, but he hoped it wouldn’t be so soon and in a manner that forced him to divide his forces. With the loss of the ships that had been taken by Tonya he feared that he would find himself fighting against difficult odds, but with what had happened at Gondor, plus the actions of Tonya, and the invasion by Yllul, the odds felt impossible. There was no way that Cantera could fight against every enemy that could be conceived of at once. That meant that only one course of action was open to him as it related to Fillia. He would have to join up with imperial forces in support of the tyrant, or with this General Firon. If there was a way that he could turn one of the rebel factions his way, even if temporarily, then maybe that could work as well. But what of Gondor?

“I can try to convince my father to send some of our stronger trade vessels to help the scout ships to escape,” Moira said. “That might be the only way to keep you from splitting up the Canteran fleet.”

Hiero looked over at his wife who sat in the chair next to him. The queen had found him in this office about thirty minutes after the meeting with General Shore. They’d been considering the options available to them for over two hours when word got to them about Tonya’s actions. Of all the things for that woman to do it had never occurred to him that she’d actually strike at the border fleet itself. Whatever he did had to solve these three problems, as well as bring an end to the stalemate on Fillia. 

“Do it, if you think you can convince him.”

“Several of these trade vessels I own outright,” Moira said, “so moving them will be easy. Once that’s done, though, I will have to convince my father that this action won’t lead to a devastating blow to our fortunes. These ships may be mine, but he could still undermine me with the influence he holds over things.”

“And you being queen likely doesn’t make a difference there, if I know your father.” The king’s eyes remained locked on those of Moira for several more seconds. The concern in her eyes was clear. He hoped she wasn’t having second thoughts about their marriage.

Taking a deep breath, he looked back at the screen and then added, “And I’ll have to send at least twenty of our new ships to the border to stop Tonya and perhaps save some of the border fleet.”  
“You realize that’s more than what the imperial authorities suspect we have?”

“Yes, I’ll essentially be admitting that we’ve been breaking our agreement to the tyrants. If I don’t do it there won’t be a Fillian Empire to save.”

The queen nodded, and Hiero sent out a message to Counselor Grij. When Grij appeared, the king gave the order. “Send what we can spare to the border fleet. We must destroy Tonya’s ships and kill her before Yllul can cross the border.”

“We can’t possibly destroy Tonya’s ships and hold out against the oncoming Yllulian fleet,” the counselor responded.

“I know that, but Tonya herself and her mischief must end now. We’ll have to pull back after that to defend Fillia itself. May we not be too late.”  
_______________________________________

Lorn Theor, nephew to king Hiero and husband to Tonya Theor, lay on the bed in his cell waiting for the next part of his saga to unfold. So much had happened to him in just the past couple months that he couldn’t fathom it all. Over and over again he ran the events through his mind that had happened with him and Tonya. At no time in his life with Tonya had he suspected anything untoward happening, whether it be financial or political. As far as he knew the two of them had a great marriage where the two of them lived rather comfortable lives and he only had some minor military and administrative roles to play. With the evidence the king had dropped in front of him it was obvious that his affection for Tonya had blinded him toward what was happening around him. 

If only he had some book film or even government documentary evidence of Tonya’s actions there to look at. Anything would be preferable to just lying here with nothing to do than think, and sleep when the urge overcame him. It had been two days since anyone had come to see him. Whenever his meals were brought a tik tok brought it to him, what the ancients would refer to as a robot, if he wasn’t mistaken. Was Hiero determined to just leave him here like this, alone and forgotten? In some ways he’d prefer to be on the receiving end of one of the king’s rages, or a questioning by Counselor Grij than be left like this. He’d already tried engaging the tik toks, but their programming had made them oblivious to his inquiries.

A sound woke him up coming from outside the room. Sitting up he glanced around. A single command brought the lights on. (At least he was allowed to have some control of the conditions here). He sat there quietly listening, wondering if he’d imagined it. It took almost ten minutes before he heard the sound again. This time closer and a bit louder. It was followed by the voices of several people. It was so nice to hear voices again, even mundane boring ones. They were discussing him and some other things on Cantera that he couldn’t make out. Part of the discussion involved some yelling and then the sound of something breaking. The door then opened just as he was getting to his feet.

A middle-aged man dressed in a royal navy uniform with a sergeant’s rank stood there with a small metal rod of some kind in his hand. Calmly he went over and set the object down on the table near the door before turning to Lorn. With the door still open the prisoner saw a body lying on the floor; clearly the one who’d been in charge of his upkeep. 

Seeing the prince’s gaze, he glanced over to the body that was the obvious focus he turned back to him and said, “Don’t worry about your guardsman, Prince Theor. He’ll recover shortly. The probe I used was only set on low.”

So, the sergeant had hit the guard with a psychic probe. It made him wonder what might be in store for him.

“I’m here to take you off the planet, sir, if you’ll follow me.”

Stunned, Lorn stared at the man, not sure what to do. Was this really happening?

“Come now, your Grace, or whatever they call a fallen prince these days. Your wife won’t be happy if I don’t get you out of here. Our window is short.”

“Tonya sent you?”

“Of course. You didn’t think she’d forgotten about you, did you?”

To be honest that was exactly what he thought happened. Part of him was happy to know that Tonya did care about what happened to him, but then another part wondered what the king would think about this, or what he’d do with him being whisked off the planet.

“Are you taking me to her?” he asked. What would he do when he saw her?

“I’m afraid not. She said to apologize to you about putting you in this situation. Things were supposed to work out differently. What she wants is for you to be away from here before things started happening around Cantera that she doesn’t control.”

What did that mean? Before he could even think about saying or doing anything the sergeant grabbed his arm and dragged him out of the room and through a maze of corridors that he’d never seen before, and were conveniently empty. 

Here ends Part 9 of Cantera: A Foundation Story


End file.
